


Horse Tornado For Children

by ApproachingEden



Series: Do You Bayleef In Love [1]
Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 00:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10708017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApproachingEden/pseuds/ApproachingEden
Summary: On their day off, Emu takes Hiiro to the Pokémon Day Care he regularly volunteers at.





	Horse Tornado For Children

It's not that Hiiro dislikes babies. He just doesn't know how to effectively deal with them when they are not in need of immediate medical attention. Hiiro used to pride himself with his ability to keep a professional distance with his patients, but this ability is probably also why he struggles just a _tiny_ bit in more casual social settings, especially ones that involve human children and baby Pokémon. And so there was a time in his life when he wouldn't be caught dead in a Pokémon Day Care. Saki tried to take him to the one in Route 5 once. That didn't work out so well.

Hiiro wonders what she would have said if she could see him now: standing in the middle of the playground, awkwardly holding a giggling Igglybuff as other tiny baby Pokémon scurry at his feet, laughing and squealing and chasing each other around.

He looks up when he hears a camera shutter. Emu answers his scowl with a guilty smile.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it!" says Emu, hiding his phone behind him. "It was super cute..."

Feeling the heat rise to his cheeks, Hiiro huffs and hurriedly dumps the Igglybuff onto Emu before turning away.

"Hiiro-san, if you don't like it here, we can go somewhere else," Emu says softly. "I just wanted to show you what I do on my days off, but it's your day off too and I don't want you to feel like you're wasting your time..."

"Here is fine. We can stay." Hiiro is mildly surprised to find that it's not a lie. In truth, he probably would be fine anywhere Emu wants to take him to, although he would never say it out loud.

He turns back and the look Emu shoots him makes Hiiro feel guilty for making him feel bad.

"Are you sure? I mean... We can hang out at the beach instead, or—"

"Really, it's fine."

"Then, I'll just delete the pictu—"

"You don't have to."

Emu's eyes widen in surprise. Hiiro feels his chest tighten. "...Eh?"

"You can keep it if you want," are the words that come out of Hiiro's mouth before he can even think about it. His face feels a tad too warm now. That's normal, right? It's summer and it's really sunny out here, after all.

"O-okay..."

Emu looks like he's fighting off a smile and there's a twinkle in his eyes that makes Hiiro's breath hitch. He bounces the Igglybuff in his arms for a bit before setting it down on the ground where it joins its friends. Then a silence, on the fence between awkward and not, snakes its way between Hiiro and Emu. Even the various noises from the Pokémon playing around them slowly fade into the background. Hiiro begins to feel as if he and Emu are the only ones that exist in this time and space.

Hiiro resists the urge to roll his eyes at himself.

For as long as they've known each other—which is, admittedly, not very long—Emu has never been shy to establish eye contact. This was something that used to bother Hiiro about his intern, because he isn't used to dealing with anyone so bold (or pure and innocent, depending on how one looks at it). But now that Emu is suddenly avoiding looking at him in the eye, Hiiro thinks it's oddly unsettling.

"Thank you," says Emu. He shuffles closer to Hiiro, quiet and hesitant. "I'm very happy that Hiiro-san came here with me. It really means a lot."

After Saki passed away, Hiiro regretted many things, among them were words he wished he was able to say to her but never did. He was never an expressive person in the first place, preferring to show instead of tell, and even then he wasn't very good at showing. The privilege of being able to let someone know how you feel about them was something Hiiro took for granted, thinking there would always be some other time, some other day. Of course he was wrong, and he paid for that mistake dearly.

He didn't think he would care for anyone again the way he did for Saki, so he thought that the painful lesson he learned from that experience was ultimately useless. But now that he's standing next to Emu, their hands very barely touching, Hiiro finds himself both admiring and envying the ease with which Emu's heart spells out his feelings, laying them all out for Hiiro to pick apart.

An Azurill snaps Hiiro out of his thoughts by bouncing off the ground and hitting him square on the chest hard enough that he falls on his back with an undignified yelp. The Pokémon that were playing at his feet thankfully manage to scramble away in time so he didn't land on any of them, although it seems that the Azurill still sitting on top of him is a little shaken.

"Hiiro-san! Are you okay?!" Emu asks, sounding panicked. He's kneeling right next to Hiiro now and Hiiro thinks he can feel him shaking. "I'm so sorry! It probably isn't aware of how strong it is just yet..."

"I'm fine." Hiiro reaches out to gently pat the Azurill on the head. Its eyes well up when he asks, "Are you alright?"

The Azurill starts crying so Hiiro holds it close as he sits up.

"Don't cry. No one got hurt." He waves at the other Pokémon watching them from the sides. "Look, your friends are worried about you."

Everything is still until a very small Happiny approaches Hiiro and climbs up his lap to offer comfort to its distressed friend. One by one the rest of the Pokémon gather around Hiiro, all of them eager to cheer up the Azurill in his arms.

It took a little while before Emu successfully extracts Hiiro from the pile of Pokémon. Emu holds him by his arm, guiding him in to the day care's lobby. It's when Hiiro sits at the table that the pain from his fall finally settles in. His wincing doesn't escape Emu.

"Are you sure you're okay? That fall looked really—"

"Yes, I'm alright." Hiiro glances at Emu, sighs, and adds quietly, "don't worry."

Emu's grip on his arm loosens a fraction but he doesn't let go. Hiiro thinks he doesn't want him to.

"I'm sorry. I imagined this trip to go smoother than this...," says Emu.

"Accidents happen," says Hiiro. "Something small like this doesn't make the trip less enjoyable."

Emu leans dangerously close. "You're... enjoying this trip...?"

"... I've never been to these islands before. Never really thought of visiting."

Emu's face is _really_ close at this point, looking up at Hiiro with wide, curious eyes. "Oh! ...How about Unova? Do they have beaches?"

"There's a resort. The experience is definitely different, though."

"Hmm~ I guess resorts in Unova would be fancier..."

"Sure. But it's always the company that truly makes the trip, isn't it?"

The way Emu's face lights up makes Hiiro think it was all worth the inconvenience of ferry travel in the summer heat and getting knocked down by a tiny Pokémon at an outdoor playground.

"You were great out there, you know...," says Emu, slowly leaning away now. "I think all the babies adore you."

"... You didn't take a photo, did you?"

"I didn't! I wish I did. I thought, 'Asuna-san should see this!' but then..." He lets go of Hiiro's arm and turns on his seat to face away from Hiiro.

"Then what?"

"A-ah, it's silly..."

"You're always spouting silly things. I'm used to it."

Emu looks at him with a frown. "Promise you won't get angry?"

"I won't."

Emu's cheeks turn slightly pink as he laughs nervously. "Well, I was thinking... Maybe it's also not a bad thing that I'm the only one who saw it... It can be a memory that's just _mine_."

The problem here, Hiiro thinks, is that he doesn't want to get his hopes up so high. He might be understanding Emu correctly or he might be just a little too optimistic. And so he waits for Emu to elaborate, to say that he doesn't mean whatever Hiiro thinks he means. But Emu doesn't say anything more.

"That's it?" says Hiiro.

"... Um. Yeah," says Emu. His face is very red now. "I told you it's silly!"

"Of course it's ridiculous," Hiiro says. "We're here spending our day off together. Whether we like it or not, memories will be made. What you do with those memories is your own decision. You can choose to keep them all to yourself if you want. In fact, I'd rather you do that exactly."

Emu laughs heartily this time. "Okay. So I can take pictures but I can't upload them. That sounds fair!"

The bell at the back door rings as one of the day care workers enters the lobby with a bunch of Pokémon trailing right behind him. As soon as the Pokémon saw Hiiro, they all ran up to him, almost managing to push Emu all the way to the side. A Sphinx and a Riolu fight for the prestigious spot on Hiiro's lap and a Swablu makes itself comfortable on his head. Emu nearly falls off his chair laughing.

"See, they really like you, Hiiro-san!" Emu says as he scrambles for his phone.

"Hey, Emu, want me to take a picture of you two?" the day care worker offers cheerfully.

"No, don't you dare—"

"Of course not. We're taking a video! Everyone, say hi!"

"Why, y—"

As Hiiro watches Emu excitedly recording every single moment on video, he thinks of all the things he wants to say and all the things he wants to thank Emu for. These things, he wants to someday effectively put into words and offer up to Emu, whether it is in their fate to be accepted or rejected. But maybe for now, this moment here on a sunny weekend in Four Island, is enough.

Maybe for now nothing more needs to be said.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> this is unbeta'd self-indulgent fiction i wrote in one day. i haven't played the games set in kanto so i'm just winging it with the help of bulbapedia, i'm five noodles.
> 
> a society like pokemon's should have social media too, right? i doubt hiiro would have twitter (can you imagine what that dork would tweet about???) but emu would! how else can nico stalk her greatest rival? rival in what, you ask? idk man. pokeathlon, probably.
> 
> speaking of twitter, [i draw this au sometimes](https://twitter.com/galacticlycoris).


End file.
